Top Italian Official Demands Facebook do more to Censor ‘Hate Speech’

ROME, Feb 12 (Reuters) – Facebook must do much more to stamp out hate speech on its site, the president of Italy’s lower house of parliament said, warning that rising abuse on various social media was being fuelled by fake news.

Laura Boldrini, herself often the focus of sexist insults and online threats, complained to Facebook managers in November about hate speech on the social network and put forward several proposals on ways to deal with the problem.

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“Two months after our meeting, they have done nothing. They have not even written to me about what I said. Good manners would have expected at least a reply,” Boldrini told Reuters in a gilded, art-filled room in the parliament building.

She said she would write an open letter to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week reiterating her call for a more effective and timely policing of his site.

“His platform risks becoming home to dangerous predators … the company has to take responsibility for this,” she said.